See how you'd like this cold-weather cure

I got to sit down Thursday with the managing editor of the Coeur d’Alene Press, Mike Patrick, to do our first “live” Facebook telecast. We wanted to thank the many people who watched us talk about the weather.

We covered a lot of topics, including the winter’s snowfall predictions, the chances for snow on New Year’s Eve, microclimates and even climate change. It was a lot of fun and we plan to do more of these live telecasts in 2017. By the way, if you get the opportunity to watch the video, which is on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/cdapress) or their website (www.cdapress.com), look for the pink flamingo. It got a few laughs when it appeared.

The middle of December was indeed one of the coldest periods in quite some time across North Idaho and the rest of the Inland Empire. Temperatures fell dramatically with daytime highs as much as 20 degrees below normal during the full moon lunar cycle that began on Dec. 13. In fact, on Dec. 17, the high at Cliff’s station was 16 degrees after a frigid morning low of minus 5 degrees. The Coeur d’Alene Airport, which is located in Hayden, reported a frigid minus 12 degrees on that day.

Readings finally warmed up into the 40s on Dec. 19, which felt balmy after what seemed like days on end of frigid temperatures. I’m one of those people who will sleep with multiple blankets when the thermometer dips below freezing. I was also surprised to see a number of people wearing short sleeves and shorts during the big coldwave. It appears that others can handle the very cold weather far better than I do.

If you think wearing short sleeves and shorts in this type of weather is gutsy, well then, some kids in Russia would make those people look like they were wearing parkas. I saw a recent YouTube video with 5- and 6-year-old children dressed down into their bathing suits and playing in the snow with frigid temperatures of about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. What was even more amazing to me was watching them playfully pouring buckets of chilly water on themselves and others. And, yes, they were having a great time.

Believe it or not, it’s not just a one-time thing. These kids were doing this activity every day for about 2-3 minutes. The adults believe this makes them more resilient to viruses. A kindergarten principal says this practice leads to children being 95 percent healthier throughout the cold and flu season. Before they go out and play, they literally exercise and briefly stay in a warm sauna. After playing in the frigid conditions, they are warmed up with a cup of hot tea. If I were to try this, I probably wouldn’t last 2 seconds, let alone 2 minutes.

During the winter season, many folks may end up taking extra time to scrape off the ice on their cars, which can make them late for work or other places they need to be. This has already happened to me and while I was scraping the ice off my car and shivering at the same time, I knew there had to be a better and faster way to get ice off one’s windshield. You can always purchase a can of de-icer, but there’s a much cheaper solution.

According to a website, mom4real.com and others, if you have a regular sprayer that contains two-thirds of Isopropyl or rubbing alcohol and one-third water, the solution will literally remove the ice from your car windows in seconds. And, you can store it in your car as it requires temperatures below minus 100 degrees for pure alcohol to freeze.

We have more snow this week before temperatures get a little colder and conditions briefly turn drier around New Year’s Day. Then, we’ll get more snow as Cliff and I believe January will see snowfall totals above normal along with temperatures below average as well. Toward the middle of next month, there is the possibility of another round of very cold temperatures before more snow arrives later in the month.

Our snowfall pattern is forecast to continue into February, but totals should be closer to “normal” during the second month of 2017.

Cliff and I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a safe and Happy New Year!

Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com